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11.21.11

N.Y. Jihadist an Hour Away From Bomb

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The suspected “lone wolf” jihadist who was arrested on terrorism charges in New York was reportedly just an hour away from finishing constructing a bomb, investigators said. Police say Jose Pimentel, a 27-year-old Al Qaeda sympathizer from Washington Heights, meant to use the bomb to assassinate U.S. soldiers returning from war. Authorities built a duplicate of the device that he was allegedly building, and the detonation blew apart a car, police said. Pimentel, though inspired by the likes of the late cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, Saddam Hussein, and Osama bin Laden, only infrequently attended Muslim services, drank, and smoked marijuana.